@Airpillo
The foam didn’t cause damage to the structure, it dislodged some heat tiles, which allowed the heat of reentry to damage the wing structure until the shuttle broke up. A bird could definitely dislodge heat tiles, but by then heat isn’t really an issue. I doubt a bird could cause any significant structural damage I’d say the birds should be more worried than NASA :)

Oh, I know, but I’ve seen footage of a simulation that was later run by NASA, firing a piece of foam from an air cannon at the leading edge of a 1:1 model shuttle wing edge.

Many NASA scientists expected the soft material to bounce off with minor damage. The shocking reality was that the foam literally punched a clean hole in the wing’s leading edge, into the interior cavity behind it. It was a very scary result, the kind of damage that I think would change the handling of the shuttle, an already unwieldy aircraft during glide. This was a simulation of launch conditions, though, so I don’t know what bearing that has on glide velocity strikes.

]]>By: Anonymoushttp://boingboing.net/2009/09/11/space-shuttle-schedu.html#comment-586522
Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000#comment-586522I thought a car ran over my building…so much for head phones
]]>By: theawesomerobothttp://boingboing.net/2009/09/11/space-shuttle-schedu.html#comment-586781
Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000#comment-586781@45 – I actually tried to see the Discovery’s initial planned launch in August, so I know first hand the pain of delays! Ah well, I got to take a nice little tour at least…
]]>By: jtiiihttp://boingboing.net/2009/09/11/space-shuttle-schedu.html#comment-586526
Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000#comment-586526Okay, that’s all great and everything folks, but did you even watch the video?? The dog’s name is nipple!
]]>By: Stefan Joneshttp://boingboing.net/2009/09/11/space-shuttle-schedu.html#comment-586542
Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000#comment-586542I was visiting my parents in Titusville, across the Indian River from the space center, when a shuttle landed.

We’d heard on the radio that there’d be a sonic boom. My mother, uncle, and I walked down to the beach at the end of the road to watch and listen.

Now, my uncle is an awesomely stubborn know-it-all. He was sure, absolutely sure, that we’d see and hear nothing.

While were chatting the air was shattered by two enormous BOOOM!!!!!s. Dogs barked, and hundreds of birds took to the air.

My uncle was speechless for about ten seconds. “Aha!” he declared, “The fired off a cannon to scare the birds away from the shuttle’s flight path.”

]]>By: arkizzle / Moderatorhttp://boingboing.net/2009/09/11/space-shuttle-schedu.html#comment-587056
Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000#comment-587056Teller, my labrador was put down at the grand old age of 16 (112), about two weeks ago. Had her since she was a pup.

My condolences.

]]>By: macmichaelhttp://boingboing.net/2009/09/11/space-shuttle-schedu.html#comment-586554
Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000#comment-586554When I saw that the shuttle was going to be passing over hear, I went out for a walk. Couldn’t see anything thanks to the cloud cover, though even without it, I don’t know if it would have been visible. The boom hit downtown Long Beach at 5:48pm, according to my phone. Made me smile, but no one else that I saw seemed to pay much, if any, attention to it.
]]>By: loganbouchardhttp://boingboing.net/2009/09/11/space-shuttle-schedu.html#comment-587071
Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000#comment-587071#34
“Okay, that’s all great and everything folks, but did you even watch the video?? The dog’s name is nipple!”

THANK YOU! i just read this whole page trying to figure out if i heard that right!

My uncle was speechless for about ten seconds. “Aha!” he declared, “The fired off a cannon to scare the birds away from the shuttle’s flight path.”

That’s silly, but it makes me wonder what a bird strike might actually do to a shuttle.

Testing after Columbia was lost suggested that at high speeds even a couple pounds of soft foam could literally punch a big, structurally significant hole in the wing’s leading edge, and birds are harder than foam. Hmmm…

]]>By: misterdnahttp://boingboing.net/2009/09/11/space-shuttle-schedu.html#comment-586855
Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000#comment-586855Wish I would have known in advance, it scared the shit out of my wife and I — we thought our toddler who was sleeping upstairs had done something awful! And thanks for the image, it shows we probably received some of the most intense boom (being on the coast under the pinkish color).
]]>By: jfrancishttp://boingboing.net/2009/09/11/space-shuttle-schedu.html#comment-586603
Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000#comment-586603I was expecting it, thanks to bb, and I still got startled that someone was trying to break in through my sliding glass balcony door.
]]>By: Tellerhttp://boingboing.net/2009/09/11/space-shuttle-schedu.html#comment-586862
Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000#comment-586862Thanks for the video. I buried my Golden in the yard about six months ago. Miss him every day. Wah.
]]>By: Tellerhttp://boingboing.net/2009/09/11/space-shuttle-schedu.html#comment-587124
Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000#comment-587124Thanks, Ark. Same, 16 from pup. When people ask Where’s your dog? I can honestly say Oh, he’s in the yard.
]]>By: mdhhttp://boingboing.net/2009/09/11/space-shuttle-schedu.html#comment-586619
Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000#comment-586619sounds like xeni has her own dopple gang.
]]>By: Takuanhttp://boingboing.net/2009/09/11/space-shuttle-schedu.html#comment-586622
Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000#comment-586622nein, einen dopple bangen.
]]>By: AirPillohttp://boingboing.net/2009/09/11/space-shuttle-schedu.html#comment-586369
Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000#comment-586369Awesome, its landing vector is going right over my home. I haven’t had free time to see a space shuttle fly overhead for landing since I was in fourth grade and it flew over the school during recess! :)
]]>By: Takuanhttp://boingboing.net/2009/09/11/space-shuttle-schedu.html#comment-586627
Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000#comment-586627or dopple boomen?
]]>By: Pantographhttp://boingboing.net/2009/09/11/space-shuttle-schedu.html#comment-586629
Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000#comment-586629

That’s silly, but it makes me wonder what a bird strike might actually do to a shuttle.

Probably very little. The major problem with “birdstrike” (as if it’s the bird’s fault) is the bird getting sucked into the sensitive turbine blades of a jet engine air intake.
Shuttles have rocket engines which are exit-only and not (or barely?) used on re-entry.

The tiles on the outside are still vulnerable, but by the time a Shuttle is likely to encounter a bird it has slowed down enough that the heat resistant tiling isn’t necessary any more.

]]>By: Sleeperhttp://boingboing.net/2009/09/11/space-shuttle-schedu.html#comment-586630
Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000#comment-586630@Airpillo
The foam didn’t cause damage to the structure, it dislodged some heat tiles, which allowed the heat of reentry to damage the wing structure until the shuttle broke up. A bird could definitely dislodge heat tiles, but by then heat isn’t really an issue. I doubt a bird could cause any significant structural damage I’d say the birds should be more worried than NASA :)
]]>By: Beelzebuddyhttp://boingboing.net/2009/09/11/space-shuttle-schedu.html#comment-586378
Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000#comment-586378Listen in yourselves: